Our Family Services works to eliminate homelessness in the community

Our Family Services is the Give Local Tucson organization for the month of April.

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Our Family Services is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, who's mission is to eliminate homelessness and strengthen our community.

Our Family Services

TUCSON, Ariz. - It's a place for those who otherwise may have nowhere else to go -- the Reunion House run by Our Family Services.

It serves as a shelter for youth ages 12 to 17 who are in the Arizona Department of Child Safety system, homeless or runaways. It is just one of the programs run by the non-profit to eliminate homelessness in our community.

"We provide rent, and case management and support to families who are experiencing homelessness who go through the counties coordinated entry system and they're selected into one of our apartments," said Beth Morrison, CEO of Our Family Services.

The non-profit used to lease buildings where families would congregate. Now Morrison said they have scattered apartments that families can lease on their own when they are financially stable. Since they've switched to this model, Morrison says they've seen a huge increase in their success rates.

The scattered housing plan allows people to stay in their neighborhoods with their support systems, near their schools, etc.

It's much less disruptive, Morrison said.

"Many of the children don't even understand that they're homeless because they never were in a shelter," Morrison said. "They might have slept in a car a few days or in a camper, or at grandma and grandpa's. The kids didn't experience homelessness as they would have in a shelter."

It costs $1,200 a month for rent, utilities and food per family.

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